Pat Curran on Bellator Belt: “You’re Going to Have to Pretty Much Kill Me to Take It

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Pat Curran on Bellator Belt: “You’re Going to Have to Pretty Much Kill Me to Take It

This past January, Curran successfully defended his title against Patricio Freire in a fight that pushed him to his limit.

“He was an extremely tough opponent with a tough jaw and hard to finish,” said Curran of Freire. “It was a little closer than I’d like, but I’m happy to come away with a win and defend my title for the first time.

“Once I started getting my rhythm and timing down, I started finding openings more and finding a home for my jab. I was landing the cleaner shots on him and by the end of the fight his face was more swollen than mine.”

It was perhaps Freire looking the worse for wear that earned Curran a split-decision victory. Although it was a much more difficult fight than he anticipated, Curran is happy that it gave him a good sense of who he is coming into this year.

“I definitely wanted to make a statement and prove to myself that my boxing is definitely on par with an elite level. I definitely wanted to prove that and I think I did,” Curran told MMAWeekly.com.

“It felt great to get five rounds and find out where my cardio and endurance is and push myself to see where I can improve and better myself after that.”

Originally Curran was set to make his second title defense against Daniel Straus at Bellator 95 on April 4 in Atlantic City, NJ, live on Spike TV. Straus, however, suffered an injury, so Curran will face Shahbulat Shamhalaev instead.

“They’re definitely different fighters and I have to go in there with a completely different mindset and gameplan, but I feel like I’m an experienced, well-rounded fighter and little tweaks here and there will make the difference,” said Curran.

“Going into this fight, this is my fourth title fight with Bellator, and I’m very confident with my experience going into this fight. I’ve been through a couple five-round wars and I know what it’s like to fight 25 minutes and prepare for it and not wear myself out.”

Now that he’s risen to the top of Bellator, Curran knows he’s going to have to continue to work just as hard as he did before to stay where he’s at.

“I’ve been in everyone else’s shoes and I know what they’ve been through and what they’re going through and what they want,” he said. “Everybody wants what I have right now.

“I worked really hard to get where I’m at. I put a lot of hours in the gym and a lot of time into things and I’m definitely not going to let go of things easily. You’re going to have to pretty much kill me to take that away from me.”

I saw Curran vs Alvarez live; Pat couldn't deal with Alvarez's angles but he did enough to make the fight interesting and Eddie was pretty much on his bicycle the entire fight after feeling Curran's power, and the crazy thing is Curran was the noticeably smaller fighter. At 145 he's looked awesome. I think he would be competitive with anybody in the UFC at that weight.

Admittedly, I don't watch every Bellator show. I know I should, they have a very good product. But I won't miss any Pat Curran title fights. I won't miss any Michael Chandler headlined cards either. Nor will I miss any card with King Mo in it (and I'll always root for Mo to get brutally destroyed).

"I don't want them to like me, because when I'm in the ring, punches fly to the face. It is not a tenderness time. I am not falling in love. And he knows that when the fight starts I kick faces."
"I think you should be able to kick in the head, it’s a fun thing to do."

Pat murdered that dude. I cannot believe there was even any protest from that sore loser...he was taking a nap face down on the canvas and thinks he wasn't out? Jimmy Smith FTW "He just doesn't remember being out cold but he was OUT". lol

Pat murdered that dude. I cannot believe there was even any protest from that sore loser...he was taking a nap face down on the canvas and thinks he wasn't out? Jimmy Smith FTW "He just doesn't remember being out cold but he was OUT". lol

Dam was wanting to watch the fight forgot to DVR it since I was watching the show than fell asleep just before it.